


Don't need feelings (to know I love you)

by Band_obsessed



Category: Star Trek: The Next Generation
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotion Chip (not used), Episode: s06e26-s07e01 Descent Parts 1-2, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 08:30:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19460236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Band_obsessed/pseuds/Band_obsessed
Summary: Despite the current calculations he was running on the object in front of him, Data's neural net was processing the events of the last forty-eight hours in detail that could only be described as…painful. He wished, for the first time in his existence, that he did not know how that particular emotion felt.





	Don't need feelings (to know I love you)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I've been sitting on this one for a while and I'm not too sure about how it turned out, but in the end, I really enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it! This mainly originated from the fact that, although we got a small Data/Geordi scene at the end of the two-parter, 'Descent', it wasn't anywhere near what I'd envisioned, so this basically 'rectifies' that :)
> 
> As a side note, thank you so so much for all the love on my last fanfic, it means the world to me!

In every sense of the word, Data was incapable of becoming ‘distracted’. However, it was the only logical conclusion he could draw from the current situation unfolding before him. In his preoccupation, he had failed to notice the door to his quarters chime, not the first or second time, nor the doors eventually sliding open with a soft hiss. Despite the current calculations he was running on the object in front of him, his neural net was processing the events of the last forty-eight hours in detail that could only be described as…painful. He wished, for the first time in his existence, that he did not know how that particular emotion felt. The chip was unassuming, non-conspicuous and remarkably…mundane. He had taken the measurements thrice (5.3mm x 7.6mm x 1.5mm) and weighed it on the pad of his thumb (0.4g). It could, therefore, be described as…ironic that the emotion chip was primarily the cause of his lack of attention to the surrounding area. 

“Data?” He blinked, once, twice, and re-routed the power his neural circuits were consuming studying the chip to his secondary systems. 

“Hello, Geordi,” he replied, placing the chip inside a container on his desk, eyes flicking up to meet Geordi’s face, seeing his eyebrows raised in questioning. “I was conducting further research into the emotion chip,” Data clarified, “and the best method by which to destroy it.”

“Destroy it? Now hold up there, this is all you’ve ever wanted, Data!” Geordi’s eyebrows had tugged down into a frown, hands gesturing in a way that Data knew only happened when he was frustrated or determined to make a point, “You can’t just throw it all away because of an incident out of your control!” Data blinked once more, processing the information, and found himself looking back down at the chip, his phaser on his desk next to him. 

“This chip was responsible for the harm and destruction of several lifeforms, Geordi. It would be…selfish for me to put my desire for emotions above the physical life of other beings.” He picked up the phaser and adjusted the settings when a hand came down on top of his, warmth spilling from the palm, and tugged it easily out of his grasp. 

“You’d be in control this time, Data! You can’t be blamed for the actions of Lore, not when he was manipulating you like that!” Data found himself glancing up at Geordi’s figure standing over him, and, for the first time in 48 hours, 17 minutes and 3 seconds, he felt a painful sensation spread throughout his thoracic cavity as he ran an internal scan to show increased pressure within that region. He looked away.

“I…do not wish to cause you physical harm, Geordi. You must know that your life is of the utmost importance to me.” Geordi sighed, setting the phaser down on the shelf to the right of the desk, and leaned against the wall, arms crossed and mouth tugged down. On what Data could only call instinct, or, at least the closest thing he was aware he possessed, he stood up, taking a few, short strides towards Geordi with the intent to soothe his discontent when he stopped himself, foot held in midair. For the second time in his existence, he second-guessed himself, his own intentions, and an afterthought of fear, a feeling he remembered all too well, ran through his circuits. Geordi’s mouth tugged further down, lips parting in a sigh and eyebrows knitted as he pushed himself off of the wall.

“C’mere, Data,” he murmured, voice soft as he outstretched a hand to grab Data’s shoulder. Data found himself embracing Geordi willingly and easily now that Geordi had established the contact, and he let himself sink into the familiar sensation, his neural net replicating the movements without any particular thought, ‘muscle memory’ as he had heard Dr. Crusher refer to it as. It was not ‘muscle memory’, however, for his hands to tangle themselves in Geordi’s uniform, the servos in his fingers curling into the fabric, pressing Geordi impossibly closer to the bulk of his chassis. His memory supplied him with the images of Geordi on the metal table, eyes like stone, unseeing and never finding his face in their void. The imagery of the acts he had committed dropped his internal temperature by .8 degrees, eyelids blinking in a futile effort to disrupt the thoughts. 

“I am sorry, Geordi. I do not- It was not my- I-” Data stumbled, stopping and starting with every new phrase that tumbled past his lips, unused to feeling this unsure, this…unstable, “Please, forgive me,” he settled on eventually, his head pressed against Geordi’s neck. The angle was wrong, it would certainly be easier, and, Data theorised, more comfortable, for Geordi to rest _his_ head on Data’s shoulder due to his shorter height, but in this precise moment he could not bring himself to move from the comfort of Geordi’s skin, the warmth against his face, so human and _alive_. 

“Hey, I thought we’d talked about this,” Geordi replied, a single hand reaching up to cradle the back of Data’s head, fingers combing through the strands and disturbing their natural placement. His other hand settled between his shoulder blades, fingers resting just below the switch that rendered Data inactive and, for 2.3 milliseconds he entertained the idea of asking Geordi to deactivate him, wondered whether a reset would make the pressure within his thoracic cavity lessen. “It wasn’t you, Data, not properly, not in any way that mattered. You weren’t to blame for the actions you took, okay? Hell, if Lore had manipulated anybody in that way, android or otherwise, I’m not sure anyone would’ve had a chance. Anger and hate are real ugly emotions at the best of times, Data, let alone when they’re all you’re being allowed to feel.”

“I-” Data's mouth shut after the first syllable and he blinked against the skin of Geordi’s neck, synthetic lashes causing minute tremors in Geordi’s upper body as he tried to find the words to adequately express his thoughts. Dissatisfied, he pulled back partially from the embrace until he could see Geordi properly, just 4.31cm away from his face, close enough to detect the hairs along his jaw and cheeks that had not yet been shaven away, the composition of the air exhaled from his lips, the faint heartbeat from his chest, the tint of blood to his cheeks, so very alive. He spent more than the average processing power lingering on how his actions very nearly changed that state of being. “You are alive.”

“Yeah, Data, I am.” Geordi turned his head, nodding towards the chip on Data’s desk, held within its container, “and I’m alive despite Lore’s efforts. Emotions don’t mean you’ll hurt me, Data, or anyone else, especially not when you’re the one in control of them.” 

“I am not willing to take that chance at this moment, Geordi, not after the consequences of my prior experience.” Geordi shook his head, the corner of his lips quirking up and Data found himself mirroring the action, the pressure shifting from his chest, the buzzing of his circuitry stabilising to a low hum. 

“You’re really something, you know that, Data?” Geordi asked, voice lighter and louder by .09 decibels, a lilt in his tone that Data had come to know as ‘fond’. 

“May I kiss you, Geordi? I understand that in light of recent events you may be uncomfortable to engage in any form of physical intimacy, so I thought it best to ask before I-” Data was cut off by Geordi’s lips pressing against his, a movement that he registered .3 milliseconds after the fact. His processors all slowed marginally, an effect that Data logically knew was impossible, but could not bring himself to further pursue, not when Geordi’s lips were soft and pliant under his own, damp with saliva and slightly rough from exposure to external elements. He had kissed Geordi before, sixty-three times to be exact, and yet every time differed somehow, made his neural net fire in a different pattern, his servos twitch and circuits heat up to either a greater or lesser extent. He filed this particular kiss away under the subheading ‘sixty-four’ for later analysis, instead focusing on the drag of Geordi’s lips against his own, how soft his skin was under his fingers if he brushed them over his cheek, the contrast between flesh and bone. His mind was never quiet, and kissing Geordi did not change that fact. He was running calculations, considering variables, filing input under particular subheadings. While he was therefore not fully focused on the task of _kissing_ Geordi, every thought that fired through his neural net was thinking only about the man in front of him. Pulling back with one last, slow kiss, Geordi rested his forehead against Data’s, his visor pressing against the bridge of Data’s nose. 

“Put the chip away, for now, Data. Keep it for later, just in case, yeah?” He asked and Data nodded, reaching to tangle his fingers with Geordi’s, eyes slipping shut as he basked in his warmth.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! My Star Trek/fandom tumblr: https://hanjisans.tumblr.com


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